Is "Ultimate
North" just another NorthWinds Adventure?
Barclays Capital has paid an undisclosed
amount, estimated to be around US $100,000, to
Matty McNair as the professional guide for
the McNair-Avery joint Canadian/UK team in their
attempt to beat a 42-day polar dash record set
by McNair's husband Paul Landry with Paul
Crowley in 2000. All three individuals (McNair,
Landry, Crowley) are Arctic guides who own and
operate
NorthWinds adventures in Nunavut province,
Canada. Tom Avery and his friends are clients.
Landry and Crowley stunned the Arctic adventurer
fraternity in 2000 with their first time dash,
in true Peary & Henson style, that showcased
their exceptional athletic skill with dog teams.
Their time to reach the Pole was only a few days
slower than
Peary & Henson achieved in 1909; but
Landry & Crowley did not have the four teams
of men ahead of them, as Peary had, building a
trail. Landry and Crowley have set a Polar dash
record not yet equaled. The question now is
"can Tom Avery best it?"
Peary & Henson had 4 personal Eskimo helpers:
Ootah, Seeglo, Ooqueah, and Egingwah. They
followed behind 18 highly skilled (seasoned and
experienced) men employing over 100 additional
dogs who blazed a virtual roadway with daily
igloo camps. The total team that left land was
comprised of 24 men, 130 dogs, and 19 sledges.
The slowest part of Arctic Ocean travel is
finding a trail through ice rubble and
building passes over 30+ foot high pressure
ridges. Peary had Eskimo scouts find the best
pathways and plenty of muscle power to hack out
footholds over the ridges of ice. Peary's
road and igloo camp building allowed his elite
team to save their energies for the final 130
(nautical) mile dash from the last team's camp
to the Pole.
This brilliant feat of logistics was made
possible by Civil Engineer Peary's 18 years of
Arctic explorations. He had perfected, with his
legendary field assistant Matthew Henson,
all necessary aspects from sledge design to
clothing and food.
No adventure team since 1909 has been willing or
able to recreate Peary's method since it
required an entire ship of supplies, the
population of an Eskimo village, hundreds of
arctic huskies, etc. Modern day teams such as
the McNair-Avery attempt bring less resources to
their attempt than one of Peary's five teams.
No one since Peary & Henson have had the many
years of experience traveling over the
treacherous Arctic Ocean they had. No one today
would be willing to take the risks Peary &
Henson had to take crossing leads barely frozen
over with rubbery sheets of new ice by going
"bear style", or of traveling up to 20 hours a
day in a fearful dash back to the safety of land
without a cell phone or any possibility of
rescue. Only Landry & Crowley have so far
demonstrated a comparable level of physical
stamina and raw Arctic traveling expertise with
dog sledges.
The remarkable Landry & Crowley 2000 dash was
all the more spectacular when they became the
first ever team since 1909 to turn around at the
Pole and head back. In doing so they solved one
of the secrets of Polar travel. Apparently the
arctic huskies were as frightened to be hundreds
of miles from land as men are; when they turned
back the dogs followed their own scent and urine
markings. The dogs became so excited to be
leaving such a dangerous environment to return
home that Landry was amazed at their return
speed and the enthusiasm of the dogs. Peary had
also found the return dash much faster than the
laborious out bound trail making.
A Scotsman who reached the Pole with dog
teams in 1969 required a year of traveling and
had massive airplane support with some 56 tons
of supplies dropped on the ice that included
electrical generators, broadcast radios, gourmet
food, a bathtub, etc.
The North Pole
is approximately 7 degrees of latitude from
the last point of land at Cape Columbia. Since
each degree of latitude is 60 nautical miles the
total distance is about 420 nautical miles. One
of the keys to reaching the Pole is to employ
lightly loaded sledges. Peary limited his to 400
pounds. The Scotsman tried to haul 800 pound
loads and the Avery team apparently have 650
pound loads. The effort for dogs to pull heavy
loads, and for men to lift them over pressure
ridges can greatly slow progress.
Peary & Henson made three polar dashes over the
Arctic Ocean starting in 1900 until they
succeeded in 1909. No other team has ever tried
more than twice. But second time success was
achieved by 1) the 43 day snowmobile expedition
of Ralph Plaisted (1968) and 2)
Richard Weber and Mikhail Malakhov (1994?)
who walked, incredibly, to the Pole and back
to land! The 2005 McNair-Avery speed
challenge to break the 42 day Canadian record
will only be one of dozens of such failed
efforts. Perhaps Avery will need 2 or 3 tries
until he gets it right, or gives up as his
fellow UK Polar enthusiast
Fiennes finally had to do. Fiennes froze his
fingers forcing him to cut the dead tips off
with a fret saw.
In fact the annual April arrivals at the North
Pole have been described by one filmmaker as
zany. People parachute in, fly in for the day to
drink champagne, others chop a hole in the ice
and dive under the Pole, and at least one has
even arrived by hot air balloon. People fly in
to be married, others pay for adventure trips in
which they ski the last 1 degree of latitude (60
nautical miles). No one has yet arrived on an
elephant or bicycle.
After the successful 1909 expedition Peary was
awarded a gold medal by the
Royal Geographical Society in London. His
last book Secrets of Polar Travel (1917)
is a classic that summarizes his vast arctic
experience. Co-discovered Henson published a
remarkable
magazine article with photos taken by his
own camera and later his excellent book
A Negro Explorer at The North Pole. Both
explorers are buried at America's most
prestigious resting place;
Arlington National Cemetery.
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